History
Video Transcript Eric: '''The Communications Act of 1934 gave the FCC the authority to govern the telecommunications industry, making sure that all industry services would remain equally accessible to all users. '''Alex Phan: From the 1980’s Computer Inquiry to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and redefining of cable broadband in 2002, ISPs were gaining more ground in establishing anti-consumer policies by narrowing the classification of internet services. Alex Popell: From 1980 to 2002, several acts and policies favouring ISPs were introduced and put into practice, allowing the ISPs to evade net neutrality and redefine their services to be less competitive and more profitable. Vincent: Throughout the following decade several milestone wins against ISPs finally resulted in the classification of ISPs as common carriers, preventing them from enacting a policy of paid prioritization, providing a huge victory for net neutrality. History of Net Neutrality vs ISP Communications Act (1934) - Win for Net Neutrality This act gave the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) authority to govern industries such as telephone and radio communications, which made sure that all these industries' services remained accessible and equal to all users. 1 2 Computer Inquiry ll (1980) - Win for ISP This policy made telecommunication's "enhanced services" to have separate rules from regular telecommunication services. This policy allowed ISPs to slow down services that they deemed to be competition for their services. 1 3 Telecommunications Act of 1996 -Win for ISP This act redefined "basic" and "enhanced" services as telecommunication carriers and Internet service Providers (ISP). This made ISPs to be excluded from common carrier rules like neutrality. Enhanced services like AOL were also able to escape net neutrality as. 1 4 Cable Broadband (2002) -Win for ISP Cable broadband is defined as Information Service, which made it so the government cannot regulate it for neutrality. 1 The Four Freedoms (2005) - Win for Net Neutrality The FCC chairmen created four open internet rules to keep discrimination to get too out of hand. These four were: # 'Freedom to Access Legal Content - '''Users have the right to be able to access any legal content on the internet with the same connection speed on every site # '''Freedom to Access Applications - '''Consumers are allowed to run any application they want to unless the application exceeds the service plan limit or it harms the provide's network # '''Freedom to Attach Personal Devices -' This allows people use any device that has a feature to go on the internet and receive the same connection speed as any other device. # 'Freedom to Obtain Service Plan Information -' Consumers have the right to receive information about their internet services such as the how their service plan protects them from potential invasions of privacy 1 5 Reclassification (2005) - Win for ISP Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and Wireless are reclassified as "Information Services" so they are could not be protected with net neutrality. 1 Comcast vs FCC (2007) -Win for ISP Comcast broke the rules of the open internet rules by slowing down BitTorrent traffic to stop congesting their network from all of the illegal downloads. The FCC brought this issue to court and lost in 2010 because BitTorrent was not a "Telecommunication Provider" so it was not protected by the open internet rules.1 6 Consumer Transparency (2009) - Win for Net Neutrality EU is now following a legislation that states that when someone signs up with an ISP, the ISP must inform the person about the bandwidth or connection speed restrictions. 1 FCC vs Verizon(2014) - Win for ISP The four open internet rules were overturned in court when the FCC were facing Verizon. Critics say that the open internet rules would stifle their business freedoms. 1 6 Title ll (2015) - Win for Net Neutrality The Title ll of the Communications Act of 1934, reclassifies ISPs as common carriers. This allows the FCC to protect net neutrality by regulating against paid prioritization. This means that ISPs cannot charge content providers such as Netflix, to deliver data to customers through a fast internet lane. 6 References 1 Page, P. (2014, July 2). A Brief, Unfolding History of Net Neutrality (Infographic). Retrieved November 27, 2015, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235335 2 Cybertelecom :: Communications Act of 1934. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/communications_act.htm 3 Second Computer Inquiry dictionary definition | Second Computer Inquiry defined. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2015, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/second-computer-inquiry 4 Telecommunications Act of 1996. (2015, May 14). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from https://transition.fcc.gov/telecom.html 5 Powell, M. (2004, February 8). PRESERVING INTERNET FREEDOM: GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE INDUSTRY. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD5428.pdf 6 The History of Net Neutrality. (2015, February 27). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZyUlIhUMyM[[Category:Browse]] Category:History